Manufacturer: Gebrüder Brehmer Maschinenfabrik, Plagwitz, Leipzig, Germany

Model: Signature Sewing Machine

Y.O.M: ca late 1890s

Serial No.:

Size:

Acquired: 2014

Description:

August and Hugo Brehmer arrived in Philadelphia from Germany, in 1871. In their shop, the brothers helped Henry Heyl, a prolific American inventor, with the building of one of Heyl’s inventions for the bookbinding industry-a unique metal wire stitchingmachine. This revolutionary machine could bind book signatures together and even use mull or gauze while stitching.

The brothers quickly realized the impact an automated stitcher would have in Leipzig, in the heart of Germany’s printing industry. In 1879, they went back to Germany, taking with them the design and technology and started building the sewing machines under their own name. Brehmer went on to produce every sort of binding and folding machinery while never acknowledging the source of their genius. Our machine was manufactured in the late 19th century.